The Civic Tourer will be offered with a 1.6-litre turbo diesel engine - as seen in the Honda Civic DTi-S hatch - as well as a 1.8-litre petrol engine, and the new model sees the introduction of an adaptive suspension system.

Honda says the Civic Tourer’s boot capacity is bigger than anything in the class, with a 624 litre volume with the rear seats in place which expands to 1668L with the seats folded. To put that into context, the Megane Wagon has 524L and the i30 Tourer has 528L. However, Holden claims the Cruze Sportwagon’s luggage hold is 686L with the seats up.

The new wagon has Honda’s clever multi-folding rear seats, which allow for tall items to be stored in the back seat thanks to bases that flip-up vertically.

The Civic Tourer will be built in Honda’s UK plant, and will launch in the start of 2014 in Europe.

Honda Australia public relations manager Melissa Cross told Drive the company has “no plans” to offer the Civic Tourer locally.

“We would consider this a niche model,” she says. “And as such, we have no plans.”